Want to meet at the Library?

[smartass_captain]

Jim hasn't braved an audience with Harrowheart's rune blades since his first visit to the death knight's humble abode. If he had the free time and the liver capacity he'd go and see Harrowheart every day just to shoot the shit and take a much needed load off of his shoulders. It's nice to be Just Jim to some people, but he hasn't been able to stop thinking about that insidious laughter when he was alone in the dark hall.

Has had to lie to Felix about what jars him awake at night before he settles back into bed and stares up at the ceiling.

So he puts it out of his mind. Best as he can. There's so many other things that need his attention. So many deadlines to be met and decisions to be made. Lessons to be crafted and taught. He's wearing himself thin enough that even Jim knows this isn't sustainable for much longer. Thankfully there's not much longer they'll have to wait. In either case his new ship's departure date is steadily approaching and with it Jim's plans will have to be put to the test. His sleep or lack thereof won't make that date come any slower.

But that is the how and why when the what is most important. Jim Kirk is dozing off at his seat with a stack of textbooks detailing the properties of electricity and its application in basic engineering when his arm slips and knocks the largest off the pile to the floor in a clatter that echoes through the near silence of this grandiose space. It jars Jim from his nap and probably spooks the heck out of anyone nearby.

Comments

[weathering_it]

Tams and Lawrence
One minute you're enjoying a nap in a silent library, the next there's a boom and a squeak and you're startled awake, arm(s?) flailing as your chair nearly tips over. That's just how it is when you're Lawrence. He's used to it by now – or at least he's resigned himself to his fate.

Nearby, Tamminy is laughing as she fans her face to banish the heat from her embarrassed cheeks. "Get a load of that asshole," she whispers to Lawrence as she nods at the captain. "Dropped his book."

"He might be the asshole who dropped his book, but you're the asshole that woke me up squeaking."

"I didn't squeak! I don't squeak!"

"Right, excuse me. You ejaculated a high-pitched utterance."

"Lawrence," she groans, "Don't say ejacula–"

"Wait, hold up. I think I actually know that asshole."

Lawrence adjusts his glasses and squints across the short distance at... Yeah! Yeah, that's the guy!

"Fuck," he mumbles, turning to Tamminy. "Don't let him know we're here. He accidentally saw me having an emotion once."

"A bad emotion?"

"Are there any other kinds?"

She scoffs, and he clarifies, "It was about my brother, so." Ah. That she gets.

Tamminy's large eyes slide away from Lawrence back to the man who dropped his book. She stares and stares, then eventually tries to comfort Lawrence with a little nod. She looks back to her book, then quietly asks, "What was his name?"

"Huh? I... Shit, uh... Jjjjjjim?"

Tamminy frowns thoughtfully as she nods. She returns to her reading, but just when Lawrence closes his eyes she whisper-hisses, "Harrowheart's buddy Jim?"

Lawrence's brows twitch.

That's all she needed to know.(edited)
She takes in a deep breath, and before Lawrence can clap his hand over her mouth she shouts across the library.

"HEY! JIM!"


Jim
It's pretty difficult to mistake James T. Kirk for many other people in the Nexus given his uniform and overall Jimitude unless it was in fact with another James T. Kirk who also calls this place a frequent haunt. May Lawrence never find out there's more than one of this fucker walking around the Nexus. Generations past would write epics out of his complaints. He's got the doofy looking gold shirt on with the weird flower petal-esque insignia on the chest and the same stupid hair as the last time Lawrence saw him.

It's definitely the guy.

The Guy who--at Tamminy's shout--lets out a yelp in a tongue the Nexus helpfully sees fit to translate into 'son of a netch shitter' for anyone close enough to hear before he also nearly falls out of his chair. By now there's a chorus of angry shusshings and glares honing in on both of their tables from all over the library floor. Jim's pretty sure he hasn't had this many people looking at him with hate in their eyes ever and that's a pretty tall order for him. He's getting to his feet. Straightening his uniform, gatheirng up his armload of books. Putting on his best 'in command' face to stare down most of the people glaring his way but he also looks for the source of that shout. He won't find the small package it came from right away, but inevitably he will recognize Lawrence and narrow both eyes in a confused squint as he approaches.

The small woman is new. She'll get a polite nod. Was she the one shouting?

"....Well, I think we've successfully made enemies of the entire library." His voice is as quiet as he can make it, gaze flitting from Harrowheart's brother to this new person. "To what do I owe the honor?"(edited)


Tams and Lawrence
"Made enemies?" Lawrence asks with a huff. "People are enemies by default. We're only reinforcing the truth."

"Lawrence," Tamminy groans, "Is stupid shit like that actually what you say to other people? Like, with a straight face and everything? I'm so embarrassed for you right now..."

Lawrence looks smugly at Jim while Tamminy looks away, hand on her forehead. It's a few seconds before she can muster up the courage to introduce herself properly to Jim. She extends a hand for a shake and says, "Dr. Tamminy Photovolt. And the honor, if you can call it that, is that I heard you know Lawrence. Or, um, more accurately, you know his brother, and Lawrence by extension. You're the guy Harrowheart used to get beers with now and then, correct?"


Jim
These two must get along really well.

There's something of the way he and Bones interact to be felt in the exchange between Lawrence and Dr. Photovolt that has Jim offering a friendly--if not slightly uncertain--smile their ways before he looks round for a chair so he can join them at their table. Nor does he hesitate to take the doctor's petite hand in his own to give it a shake.

"Captain James T. Kirk, of Starfleet. I've heard of you, actually. It's good to meet you in person." This is the doctor Harrowheart had help wire up his house, even if the undead never did make any use of it yet. "And Lawrence, once again. Always good to see you." Even if he makes a fuss about it being a pain. Jim doesn't mind. Once he's got a seat to join them he offers Tamminy a nod.

"I'm one of Harrowheart's Nexus friends, yeah. Known him for about as long as he's been in this place, actually. Though Lawrence I've only met once before." He didn't pull any punches at the time and Jim doesn't expect now will be much different. He has some small idea of the fact that Harrow's kept his distance since and the captain's none too eager to get in the middle of a family quarrel now. Still, he liked Lawrence enough and Tamminy is of interest so he'll see what they want. Can't hurt anything.


Tams and Lawrence
"You've heard of me?" Tamminy peeps, at first surprised by the fact and then worried for the implication. She laughs anxiously and frets with her books, shutting them all in a hurry and pushing them aside.

"What have you heard? And who told you?"

She's staring at you with them big ol' eyes, Jim. The woman wants the tea. Spill it!

Jim
"Harrowheart told me you were an electrical engineer and one of the finest minds he knows and that you helped him wire up his house while it was being built."

Though he's giving Lawrence a bit of a side eye right now because Jim's pretty sure Harrow called her his brother's girlfriend and while Jim's aware Harrowheart has several brothers this one is the one here with the good doctor. Interesting.

"Sorry, I realized he didn't mention you by name and I could be mistaking you for someone else. He said his brother's girlfriend helped with that, actually."

[weathering_it]

Tams and Lawrence
Everything's fine until Jim says that one magical word. Everything's going so mediocre well until he does it! But the word is out and Lawrence wheezes just as Tamminy gasps.

"She's not my–"
"I'm not his–"
"GIRLFRIEND."

Tamminy and Lawrence look at each other, first in surprise and then with great determination. Right. Right! Not a girlfriend! They each cross their arms and nod in unison at Jim, Lawrence just once but Tamminy a few extra times just so that she doesn't appear to be, you know, synchronizing their bullshit.

"Lawrence is..." She begins, then looks his way. He's... A longlegs with a shitty personality, a sketchy hairline, a growing paunch, and an intense stare. Okay, what nice things can she say about him? Out loud, I mean? Her lips shift side to side and she keeps on looking at him, thinking her answer over even as he stares with lowered brows and wide eyes. Come the fuck on, Tams! Describe him!

"He's my thinking partner. You know? Every great gnome has a thinking partner. One of them has the technically sound ideas, and the other has the..."

"Shitty ones."

"The personality, I was about to say."

Lawrence pans over to Jim and wordlessly mouths 'the shitty ones.'
But Tamminy shakes her head until it starts to gyro into a nod. "More importantly, Captain, I'm happy to know that Harrowheart introduces me first and foremost as a woman of my craft. Electrical engineering is my trade! But lately..."

She idly flips through some of the pages on the books in front of her. Advanced stuff, judging only by the spreads of schematics.

Lawrence says quietly, "She's been having a hard time since we came to the Nexus. She's been exposed to so many other people's ideas that she's hung up on them. She thinks she can't do better than what someone on some other world already has."


Jim
"Like I said, I realized just now Harrow has more than one brother and he could have been talking about any of their girlfriends--"

Jim's holding both hands up in his own defense, leaning back in his seat ever so slightly when the chorus of denial kicks in, but then she goes and owns up to being the one who's an electrical engineer and his eyebrows creep back up in mild disbelief. They're so childishly obvious about things but Jim lied to everyone's face about he and Felix for far far too long. If he says anything now he'll be the multiverse's biggest hypocrite.

"Sorry, I was just repeating what he said. I didn't realize he was mistaken." Are they done biting his head off for the terminology yet? Probably not, where Lawrence is concerned but. They are thankfully moving on with the conversation. And oh, what a topic that is.

"When you figure out the answer to that conundrum, I'd greatly like to hear it. I think everyone with a degree in something or another runs into that wall sooner or later. Hell, I come from most worlds' far flung future and my world still has nothing compared to the things I see here. Living semi organic or entirely non organic life forms? We don't have anything like that. To say nothing of magic. My world may as well be the pre-stone age so far as that's concerned."


Tams and Lawrence
Tamminy perks up. "So it's not just me?" She huffs a laugh and crookedly smiles. "I can't decide if that's a comfort or a curse. It's good to be among company. It's bad to struggle. But it's great to be struggling with company. Hmm! Guess that's it, then. Comforted."

But there's so much in what Jim just said that she's blissfully distracted from it all, at least for a moment. "No inorganic life at all? Well, without magic, I figure that stands to reason. How could you form life without carbon? How could, oh, I don't know, a rock? have cell signaling? You'd need a liquid medium to transmit molecules. Unless we're talking a gaseous being, and even then, how would the thing stay together?"

Her lips press tightly together and she starts leafing through her book pages again, as if the diagrams are going to give her any insight. "How could you maintain an electrical gradient?" she mutters.

Lawrence shakes his head at Jim and says, "Don't bring up biology, she gets all thoughtful about it. Biology and electricity. Me, I'm a simple man. I get, y'know. Goats. Hay. Rifles. Yelling at children. The important shit in life."


Jim
The day Jim discovers the Horta is the day Tamminy Photovolt will die happy then. Silica based life is definitely a thing in the galaxy, although rare. Someday, Tamminy, your biological ship will come in. Someday....

Jim smiles eagerly at her interest in the subject and leans forward to settle his chin on a propped up hand while he listens. Biology isn't his area of expertise but he knows enough to follow along with the basics of what she's talking about. Besides, seeing a scientist in their element never ceases to be worth watching so far as Jim is concerned.
"I try to ask myself how we'd do it, you know? Or how I could apply other worlds' magic or tech in my world. Sometimes it helps with that feeling."
And sometimes it leads to more questions.

But rarely ones that aren't also intriguing to consider. If only Jim trusted the higher ups to know about and have access to the Nexus. But after the corruption he's seen with his own eyes it's just too dangerous. It's not a risk he can afford to take. He glances over at Lawrence after a moment and sits up again properly.

"Don't say that. What fucking good would a scholar have for all their thinking if they starved to death before they could apply it?"
"Agriculture is insanely important. Even in my time."


Tams and Lawrence
Jim tells Lawrence not to say what he said, and Lawrence immediately stiffens up with the urge to make an issue out of this. But before he gets a chance to open his big mouth and blow it Jim continues, and Lawrence is left in surprised silence. Was he just... Complimented? No, was his vocation just complimented?

Well... Now what?

Tamminy doesn't notice the way Lawrence looks pensively at his hand on the table, but lifts her eyes to Jim, who's making some sense about her own life now. "So... Take what someone else has already made and try to put a gnomish spin on it? Ohhhh, I wish I'd paid more attention in culture class... There's no many of my kind left to take our social and cultural cues from. So where does that leave me? Should I go researching what other gnomes would do and make these Nexus inventions more Gnomish, or should I take it in my own direction and make them more Tamminy?"


Jim
Jim can't exactly talk about his own family. Even though his father's side owned the farm on Iowa they haven't actually worked that land at all for as long as he can remember. Maybe generations ago the Kirks used to be actual farmers but if that's the case Jim's got no idea how far back that would be. What he does know is that water, food, and shelter are still the ultimate necessities no matter how far humanity advances and shunning any one of them is a good way to wind up in a very literal hell. He knows that Very Well.

His smile to Lawrence is sincere though he won't catch Lawrence looking back at him as Tamminy draws his attention once more.

"I've never been one to fit in with a crowd. For as great as cultures can be I've always found it easier to do things my way. Make them more Tamminy and see where it gets you."

[weathering_it]

Jim's encouragement brightens Tamminy's face. She smiles for him and laughs delicately. "I know what you mean about not fitting in. I was always the weird one who wanted to go leave the city for the surfaceworld. I got a lot of looks when I proposed solar power to a subterranean society. But look who's laughing now: Me, because I'm the only one left alive."

Lawrence coughs a laugh, then lightly slaps Tamminy's arm with the back of his hand. "Don't make me laugh about stuff like that, you'll make me look bad."

"Oh, I'll make you look bad?"

Lawrence looks away to hide his smile and rolls his eyes for good measure. Tamminy shakes her head at Jim. Can you believe this guy?

"So," she says, "I've got a question for you, Mister Starship Captain. What's your ship fueled by? Are solar sails viable for space travel, or would it never produce enough energy to fuel an entire ship?"

[smartass_captain]

The only one...?

Jim glances between Tamminy and Lawrence and he's certain something is missing in context from this exchange but there's a sinking suspicion by the expressions on both of their faces that this might be in some senses all too literal and that sends a chill down his spine. Let him aim for a diplomatically polite smile instead of asking questions he's quite certain he doesn't want to know the answers to for fear of ruining a perfectly serviceable conversation.

"I don't know. One of you told it and one of you laughed so I think that makes you both bad. It's a matter of perspective more than anything."

Something about the way Tamminy addresses Jim has him straightening up in his seat ever so slightly. Now that the subject's on a topic he knows what's what about there's no reason to sit by smiling and nodding.

"Solar power's certainly useful for certain onboard peripherals but the trick of it is my ship holds four hundred plus people on it plus all their gear and supplies. We're a small city out there. On top of that, unless you're staying not only in-system but within a certain radius from the sun you're not going to be getting much power from solar arrays. Most of space is exactly like it says in the name. Empty. Getting from one star to another, let alone travelling the galaxy would be impossible with such a system."

[weathering_it]

Both of them? Bad? They look at each other and consider it in silence. It isn't immediately obvious who smiles first, but soon they both turn proud grins to Jim. They'll take it! Gladly! Badly.

Then Tamminy balks. "Four hundred? That's -- That's almost a fully sustainable gene pool! Ohhhh, but I hadn't even considered the effect the distance of the stars would have! What a foolish oversight! Of course the power of the sun would diminish with increased distance!"

She stares at Jim with the intensity of a focused death ray. She'll burn the hairs right off your chest, Jim.

Lawrence, seeing this, reaches over with his only hand and plunges Tamminy's scalp with his hand.

"Thank you."

Lawrence grunts in response.

Eventually Tamminy sighs and looks guiltily at Jim. "I'm at the brink of having a great idea, but I just... Can't push myself over the edge! I think I need inspiration. No... A purpose! I need to be working for something!"

[smartass_captain]

Not together, they say. Jim's heard that before. Coming out of his own lying sack of shit lips for nearly a year, even. But these sorts of things take time to admit if they even want to. If other people and circumstances hadn't forced Jim onto admitting what his own traitorous feelings were would he be in the situation he's in now? Decidedly not. He could have danced around it for years. Ages.

Until he was forced to look it in the eyes for what it was. Like his older counterpart had with his partner. Because at his core he's still only Jim Kirk. Tamminy Photovolt and Lawrence Weatherhill should be free to define their relationship on their terms even if the choice is not to.

It still makes the captain curl a smile across his lips watching them.

"It's not something most folks have to consider until they're a different distance away from their star, to be fair." That's an awfully fixated gaze though. It would be unsettling if he hadn't seen it before in Scotty's face right before his best ideas seem to spring to light. Stopped, however, by Lawrence. Probably for the best. He's felt those problem solving migraines before. The best kind of headache, if pain can ever be treated as best.

And her lament, well. Jim understands it all too well. It speaks to the ache in his own chest to be so close to his mission and yet still held back from it. To the time wasted every day while new unseen phenomena sit just outside the scope of his grasp. To the nebula they have a newly formatted map of and all the possibilities beyond it, waiting for Jim's ship to be finished.

Maybe that's what Tamminy needs. Not Starfleet, perhaps. But her own version of what it is to Jim. She needs something here in the Nexus or back in her own world--

She's the only one left alive.

Jim licks at his bottom lip and swallows the words so nearly slipped past them. She would already be doing that if she could. Her mind? Her drive? She's not aimless by choice like Jim was. She's lost. Without a place to put that mind to use. And Lawrence? Without anyone to make use of the skills he has and stuck in a rut of his own disability and lack of options. Working as serfs on Ixis Naugus' land when they could be...

"I might know a place that could use a mind like yours." And then he smiles at Lawrence too. "Both of yours."

[weathering_it]

Something changes in Jim. Both of them notice, and both of them process it in their own ways. Tamminy sits straight and folds her hands, her eyes now focused in an open, listening way. This might as well be a make-or-break interview for her.

Lawrence, after looking away, solemnly begins to nod. "I think I know what you're about to propose."

It breaks Tamminy's concentration and she turns to look at him.

Lawrence nods once more, eyes closed. "A place where minds like ours belong? Don't you get it?"

Tamminy begins to whisper, "Sta–"

"Garbage Depot, Tams."

With a cobra's speed she reaches out and swats his hand, and even as he giggles and snorts she scolds, "The Captain was being serious, Lawrence! Try it for once! Swine!"

[smartass_captain]

Snort.

Jim's as surprised as they are that he just laughed but even as a hand jolts up to cover his own mouth the captain is tipping forward and laughing and they're gonna get Shushed again by the library patrons but Jim doesn't even care this time. There's some wetness beading at his eyes from how hard he's holding back from guffawing loudly like the country bumpkin he grew up as.

"Gar...bage. Depot..!" Oh man, he's shaking from all the held in belly laughs. Wipes at his eyes with the heel of one hand. First one, then the other. Whew, okay. Good? Goo--chuckle. Okay no, for serious though. Good? Good.

Jim clears his throat.

"Starfleet, actually. You're both from Azeroth which is familiar with space travel and has had first contact with sentient life from beyond your planet. I could get you both an interview with the head of admissions if you were interested."

[weathering_it]

Lawrence tries at first to hide his pride at getting a laugh out of the captain, but he quickly decides: You know what? Nah. Go ahead and smile smugly. He doesn't comment, doesn't even watch as Jim laughs, but holds his half-arm with the opposite hand as if he'd like to cross his arms and smiles out across the library.

Tamminy groans. "Captain, don't feed the beast..."

But when Jim gets a hold of himself both parties turn with raised brows to look at him. Lawrence shifts his attention to Tamminy, but she can't seem to get her eyes off the dashing captain.

"You'd really extend that kind of offer to us? Knowing us as little as you do?" she asks.

"I'll think about it," Lawrence says coolly.

"Think about it?"

"Yeah, Tams. I'll think about it. It's an amazing offer, but I'm not my brother. I'm not just going to say yes to every deal that comes my way. I'll think about it... And determine how likely Harrowheart is to strangle me out of jealousy if he ever finds out."

Tamminy half-rolls her eyes, but not in mockery – in agreement. "It's bad enough you're down an arm. We'll have to get that fixed before you go for any interviews."

"Just because Starfleet doesn't take corpses doesn't mean they don't take cripples."

Tamminy pulls an uncomfortable face. Lawrence might have been joking, but realistically... Well, she'll turn to Jim to answer that one.

[smartass_captain]

"Well, yeah, I'd expect you both to."

Jim glances between Lawrence and Tamminy before he nods toward Harrowheart's older brother. He's got the long and short of it. Going to another world and adapting to their rules and customs isn't a small order. "There's a lot more to it than simply being interested but if you're not then why bother with any of the rest of it?"

He can't guarantee their acceptance like he did with Jaylah. Those kinds of favors have already been called in--but he knows the procedure in Starfleet post-Narada. The captain's willing to bet the Academy will rule in favor of these two if they complete the vetting process. It works in their favor that the fleet is still scrambling to get warm bodies into the Academy to fill the gulf of empty seats left in the wake of disaster that's plagued Starfleet in the form of attacks in the last few years.

"He's got nothing to worry about there. It won't hurt his chances of being accepted. Will mean you're probably going to be required to get and complete PT with a prosthesis but that's all."